The Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirmed in an interview that it would conduct an independent review of the death of Israel Hernandez-Llach, an 18-year-old graffiti artist who died after being electroshocked by a Taser during a police chase in Miami Beach. Police caught Hernandez-Llach spray-painting the wall of a former McDonald’s restaurant.

Police brutality cases are on the rise in Florida, with more police related shootings this year than in many previously. In this particular case, the Miami Police Department, the department responsible for the tasing, has come under scrutiny for a series of shootings and improper conduct in recent years, including the death of 22-year-old man who was shot 16 times by police two years ago during a Memorial Day weekend hip-hop festival.

Jacksonville police brutality cases can range from the more common cases of police physically harming a suspect during arrest for no apparent reason, to allowing another suspect to maul the accused, who has now become a victim. Unfortunately though, even worse cases arise from police action or inaction that results in the unnecessary harm or even death of someone who did not deserve that abuse.

Police discretion in Jacksonville, as well as other areas around Jacksonville tend to be less strict than other areas where lawmakers have more control. Many law enforcement experts agree that when a suspect raises a weapon and does not put it down when requested to by police, the police are justified in taking the suspect’s life. However, just because deadly force is justified does not make deadly force necessary.

When the police pull a gun, either bullet-filled or a taser, the police are taking someone’s life in their hands. The repercussions of an inexperienced, emotion-driven, or angry police officer can be catastrophic. However, if one obtains an experienced Jacksonville police crimes attorney to fight one’s case, one can make sure that the actions of the police will not go unpunished and that one will have the best defense possible for the crime that the police believe that the accused has allegedly committed.

Many think that the best non-lethal way for police to handle subduing a suspect is by using a police issue high voltage taser. Tasers are shown to have a higher instant incapacitation rate than a 9mm hand gun because they override the central nervous system providing what has been praised as a more reliable, instantaneous takedown. The problem with this weapon is that these high voltage weapons, shooting at minimum over 50,000 volts of raw electricity, can and many times do shock the heart to the point of fatality.

There are many ways by which the police are able to subdue someone, either dangerous or non-dangerous, for example, with better officer coordination or more direct methods of subduing the suspect, such as bean bag guns. However, these methods are not first considered before using deadly force to subdue a suspect. Because of these decisions, be it from the supervising officers or the individual officers facing the suspect, many die, forever stopping their right to a trial.

Hernandez-Llach was not a bad or threatening person. Hernandez-Llach was an artist without a proper canvas. Hernandez-Llach was simply a boy who made, maybe a bad decision, in running from police, but that decision should not cost him his life, especially when the crime itself was not one that causes danger to others. Hernandez-Llach could have been subdued, had a trial, and then gone through community service and paid a fine, rather than meeting his very unfortunate end.

In many cases, the accused may run away from police because of simple fear of what might happen in prison should one get caught by police. Even though it is the human instinct to run when faced by the possibility of one’s freedoms being stripped, remember, police may not act properly in their retaliation, leaving one in possibly a worse situation. However, one controls just how much the police and the legal system control the outcome.

One can either hope that the system is fair and treats one with the dignity of a citizen that is expected under the Constitution, or one can obtain an experienced Jacksonville resisting arrest defense attorney to fight the case and ensure one’s rights and defenses are known and protected. One should not have to face an army of difficult legal problems alone. One needs an experienced attorney.

The Forbess Law Firm has been aiding clients who face criminal charges in Jacksonville for more than a decade and are here to provide aggressive criminal defense to anyone accused of a crime. If you or a loved one require a Jacksonville criminal defense lawyer, contact our firm today. We are available through our website or by calling us at 904-634-0900.